Carissa Moore is your 2019 world champ. Photo: Cestari/WSL
Arguably the friendliest woman in professional surfing just clinched her fourth world title, becoming just the sixth woman with as many titles to her name.
Throughout her now-storied career, Carissa Moore has always been a dominant force in Hawaii. She’s won the Maui Pro three times in the last five years and was on track to win a fourth in 2019 before being defeated by Stephanie Gilmore in the semis. Going into Maui on top of the Jeep Leaderboard, it was definitely her title to lose. This year’s contest was especially fierce given three women were duking it out for that world title and two Olympic qualification slots for Team USA.
When Lakey Peterson bowed out of the event early on Sunday, it assured that Caroline Marks and Carissa Moore would represent the United States next summer at the Olympics – Moore for her part becoming the first surfer from Hawaii to qualify.
Speaking to Barton Lynch, she was clearly emotional about earning that coveted slot:
Now, she’ll be carrying a world championship title to Tokyo as well where she’ll be an early gold medal favorite. Congrats, Riss!